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Copyright: Department of Water & Sanitation

NATIONAL INTEGRATED WATER INFORMATION SYSTEM

(NIWIS) USER MANUAL

Information Document for NIWIS Dashboards

Version 2.0 September 2017


Copyright and Disclaimer

Copyright:

The copyright of the data/information remains with the Department of Water and Sanitation. This

approval to use the data/information cannot be construed as a transfer of copyright.

Usage:

All data is supplied free of charge and may not be sold to third parties. The use of information data

is restricted to use for academic, research or personal purposes.

Quality:

All data is supplied with no expressed or implied warranty as to its suitability for purpose, accuracy

or completeness.

Status:

Meanwhile data is continuously updated; the data set(s) supplied are already historical on the day

of supply.

Acknowledgement:

Whenever used in publications or the electronic media, the Department Water and Sanitation is to

be mentioned as the proprietor of the relevant copyright.


1. SECTION A

1.1 Introduction

This document is the National Integrated Water Information System (NIWIS) User Manual; it

serves as a guide to enable the users to easily interact with the system. This manual focuses on

access, navigation, and use of the system. The NIWIS System consists of a set of dashboards to

enable to swiftly navigate through various information products (Dashboards). All information

products have been designed based on the same framework, therefore the navigation point

applies to all products.

This user manual will evolve as and when a new version of NIWIS is introduced and when new

features are introduced in the existing dashboard.

1.2 Who can I contact if I need help?

[email protected] or from the NIWIS menu select Other and choose the Feedback

and Support page as in Figure 1

Figure 1. Contacts for Help and Feedback

mailto:[email protected]


1.3 When I logon to NIWIS my username and password are requested as seen in

Figure 2 below:

Figure 2. Logging into NIWIS

No login is required. If the system asks you to login as in Figure 2 select Cancel and make sure

your proxy settings are correct. To check the proxy settings do the following:

For Internet Explorer click on Tools then the Internet options window will open, as in Figure 3

below

Figure 3. NIWIS on Intranet

Click on the Connections tab and then click on LAN settings. The Local Area Network Settings

window will open. Click on Advanced button. The Proxy Settings window will open. Your proxy

settings should be as in Figure 4 below.

Tools

NIWIS


Figure 4. Internet Properties

For Google Chrome click on Customize and control Google Chrome as in Figure 5 then select

Settings. Click on Show advanced settings to open more options see Figure 6. Go down the

list till you find Change proxy settings and click on it. The Internet Properties window will open as

in Figure 4. Click on LAN settings then Click on Advanced. Your proxy settings should be the

same as in Figure 4 above.

Figure 5. Google Chrome

Customize and Control Google

Chrome


Figure 6. Google Chrome Settings

1.4 How do I access a dashboard from the Home page?

You can select a dashboard from the menu at the top, namely Strategic, Operational and

Regulatory, see Figure 7 below.

Figure 7. Menu Options


1.5 How do I access the dashboard from each category?

Click the drop-down menu as shown below Figure 8 (It applies to all the categories)

Figure 8. Shows how to access the dashboard from each category

1.6 Where can I find more information about the dashboard, map legend and

filter option?

Click on the information button in the top right corner of the dashboard pointed at by

the red arrow in Figure 9. The information relating to the dashboard will appear as shown in

the figure below. To close the dashboard information page by clicking close in the blue at

the bottom of the page or cross at the top right corner of information page.


Figure 9. Dashboard information button

Click on the map legend button in the left panel of the dashboard pointed at by the

red arrow in Figure 10. The map legend will popup as shown below. You zoom in and

zoom out using positive and negative signs and can revert to the original map by clicking

the home sign. Above the legend icon there is a full screen icon, you can click it for full

screen view and click it again for original view.

Click Information button

Information Background


Figure 10. Map showing the legend panel.

Click on the filter button as pointed at by the red arrow on the

dashboard in Figure 9. The dialog box will popup and from dropdown arrow,

click to choose the filter option.

Figure 9. Map showing the filter option


1.7 How can I print, download data/information from the dashboards?

Click the chart context menu, the print or download options will appear as indicated in Figure 10.

Then you can select either print or download option from the menu below.

Figure 10. Map Shows the print and graph download options

The arrow in Figure 11 below shows the graph options on the pie chart, but this is available in

some of the dashboards.

Figure 11. Shows graph toggle view options

Print and graph download options

Toggle view


You can download data from the table as indicated below by the red arrow. To download data,

Click download CSV, the open, save and cancel prompt as shown below. Now you can open or

save data in the location of your interest using the prompt options as shown below.

Figure 12. Shows the data download option and how to open or save the file

1.8 How do I select a province/area on the map?

You can select by hovering on the map as show below in Figure 13. Hover the mouse around the

map or area of your interest, the popup message will appear as shown in the map below (Figure

13). Click on the map or area selected, and automatically the table will be highlighted showing the

selected area. This can also be done by selecting on the table as shown in Figure 14.


Figure 13. Area selection using the map

Or you can select a province/area by clicking on the table as shown in Figure 14 below.

Figure 14. Area selection using the table

Area selection using Map

Area selection using table


1.9 The NIWIS demonstration is also available in the video as shown in Figure 15

below.

On the Home page of NIWIS in the left panel as seen in Figure 15 below.

Figure 15. NIWIS video

Video


2 SECTION B

2.1 Introduction

In addition to the above, NIWIS has further developed over 40 information products (dashboards),

each of which is meant to answer a specific water related question. In the order of the categories

mentioned above, the dashboards would be providing answers to the following questions, and for

each of the question highlighted, the corresponding dashboard would be depicted as a guide.

Each dashboard, amongst the list to follow, would have a caption, briefly explaining each

dashboard and what it is meant to address. Moreover, for the purpose of this manual, not all the

dashboards would be presented here.

2.2 The Health Risk Related To Using Untreated Water From Rivers And Dams Dashboard:

Where are the Water Quality Health Risk areas of SA Rivers and Dams? Therefore, from regulatory menu, the user selects water quality and then chooses health risk

related to using untreated water in rivers and dams. The map shows the position of 10

monitoring stations with the worst water quality, based on the SA water quality guidelines. The

monitoring stations names and the number of samples is each risk category is displayed in the

table next to the map. The map filter offers the 10 worst case water quality variables to choose

from.

Figure 16. Health risks related to using untreated water from rivers and dams


The user can also zoom into the area with worst water quality and select one of the points on the

map to highlight it in the table. The monitoring point at Orkney (188132) shows 100% high risk for

Total Coliforms (99%) as shown in Figure 17 below.

Figure 17. Zooming into the specific area/point in the dashboard

2.3 Surface water storage dashboard:

Which WMA has the lowest % Full Supply Capacity and where are the

problem areas?

From the Operational menu the user can select Water Status and then choose Surface Water

Storage. The map displays the % Full Supply Capacity (FSC) in each Water Management Area. It

can be seen that only one WMA still has a % FSC that is Moderately High.

On the graph the user can see the current and previous years values or select to see the trend

over 5 years.


Figure 18. Surface water storage dashboard

The user can also zoom into an area on the map as shown in the figure below (Figure 19) or

select a WMA from the table to see the % FSC of each dam in the area. The table values are

colour coded. In the table is can be seen that, e.g. Buffelskloof Dam has a % FSC of only 44%.


Figure 19. Zooming into the specific area/point in the dashboard

2.4 River flows dashboard:

What is the Status of River Flows in SA and where are areas of concern?

From the Operational menu, the user can select Water Status and then choose River Flows.

The dashboard displays the status of River Flows in each WMA as well as a National summary in

the table and chart. From the figure below, the pie chart indicated that nationally the majority of

stations fall in the Very Low flow category.


Figure 20. River flows dashboard

As shown in the figure below, the user can also zoom into the WMA with the lowest values and

select a station to see the flow height at the station. The stations in the table are colour coded

corresponding to the categorization on the map, e.g. W5H006 indicated Very low Flow; the

graph displays the current and previous years as well as the river flow at the station over a period

of time.


Figure 21. Zooming into the specific area in the dashboard

2.5 Groundwater reserve dashboard:

How many Groundwater Reserves have been done?

From the Strategic menu, the user can choose Reserve and then select Groundwater Reserve.

The map displays all the quaternary catchment where groundwater reserves have been done as

well as a summary for each WMA. The percentage Desktop, Rapid, Intermediate and

Comprehensive Reserves that have been done are displayed on the pie chart

Reserve Quality Class: Class 0 (Ideal), Class I (Acceptable), Class II(Tolerable) and Class III

(Unacceptable)


Figure 22: Groundwater reserve dashboard

Figure 23 shows that when the user zoom into an area the reserves that have been done in each

quaternary catchment and the level can be seen; Reserve Quality Class: Class 0 (Ideal) Class I

(Acceptable) Class II (Tolerable) Class III (Unacceptable).


Figure 23: Groundwater reserve dashboard

2.6 Water Supply Reliability Dashboard:

What percentage of the population has access to Reliable Water Supply in SA

and where are the problem areas?

From the Strategic menu, the user can choose Access to Water and then select Water Supply

Reliability. The map displays the reliable water supply in each province. The number and

percentage (%) of population as well as households are displayed. This is divided into Urban and

Rural values.

As indicated by the red arrow in the Figure 24, it shows that, nationally, 64% of SA population has

access to reliable water supply. From Limpopo and Mpumalanga (Crisis) have the lowest

percentages. The Western Cape has Good Reliable Water Supply.


Figure 24: Water supply reliability

The user can also zoom into a province (Figure 25) with lowest percentages and view the

population and households numbers with access to reliable water supply values for each Local

Municipality. In this case, the Greater Sekhukhune District only 27% of the population has access

to reliable water supply.


Figure 25. Water supply reliability

2.7 Drought Status Dashbpoard:

What is the Status of Drought in SA?

From the Menu, click drought status, the Dam Levels and Trends can be accessed by choosing

access to current dam levels which will navigate to the surface water status dashboard to look

at current dam level information. A chart showing monthly rainfall and dam storage levels can be

viewed as well as a chart showing dam storage levels.


Figure 25. Drought dashboard


Figure 26 shows that from the Rainfall Trend links, the National Annual Rainfall levels and

National Monthly cumulative Annual Rainfall chart can be viewed.

Figure 26. Drought dashboard

3 Conclusion

This document aims to achieve the following; interaction of the system (Chapter One) and

the key questions that these information products aimed to answer (Chapter Two). However

the users should note that this manual will change as new information products are added

or when new feature are added in the existing dashis.

Documents

NATIONAL INTEGRATED WATER INFORMATION …niwis.dws.gov.za/niwis2/UserFiles/documents/NIWIS_User_Manual... · No login is required. If the system asks you to login as in Figure 2 select